Xiao Qiao
Skills Having grown up in war-torn China, Xiao is a highly skilled warrior. She is in peak physical condition after years of training and experience on the battle field, so it would take quite a lot to tire out the teenaged warrior. She's quick on her feet and can definitely take a good knock or two (but expect her every now and then complain because being hurt by jerks sucks). While she is trained in a few weapons, such as staffs, her primary weapon is her Iron Fan: a colorful, decorated and over-size fan. When opened, the blue and orange weapon is a little over a meter wide and and about 80cm tall. The outer edge of the fan consists of several sharpened points, making it easy to slash anyone who gets in the way. Of course, like all blades, her Iron Fan will need to be sharpened every now and then and, unfortunately, Xiao isn't very attentive with the state of her weapons, so there's a good chance she may charge into battle with a dulled weapon. Her fan can be used in a number of ways. If she keeps it closed, she can use it as a blunt object to strike people with. Due to it's large size, Xiao also has the option of using it as a shield, albeit not the greatest shield as she only has a small handle to grab onto without cutting herself. However, her preferred method is to use it as intended: holding it by its handle and slashing away. Through her extensive training, she has gained the ability to throw her fan like a boomerang. With the flick of a wrist, she can throw her weapon roughly three meters ahead. Of course, if the fan is intercepted or gets caught, it would leave Xiao completely defenseless. But perhaps her most notable talent is what is referred to as a musou. It channels Xiao's inner strength, allowing her to jump up, twirling herself and her fan around for a few seconds, attacking the enemies within the reach of her weapon. However, it has it's drawback: after one use, it renders Xiao weak and tired, making her an extremely easy and vulnerable target for others. As a result, she only prefers to use it in life-or-death situations. Xiao tends to be very good with animals -- well, the animals she likes, at least. She has experience riding horses and training war animals (mostly pandas because, well, pandas are the best). She has enough patience and dedication to try to teach the wild animals simple commands such as "Come here!" via whistle, "Stay, girl!", "Follow me!", and "Maul these people to death, please!" among other things. While Xiao may appear to be a disciplined warrior on paper, she is far from one. She is still, after all, a teenaged girl and prone to teenaged tendencies. She follows her heart more than her mind, something that definitely gets her in trouble more often than not. While she tries her hardest to focus on a task, she can still be easily distracted if her family or friends are brought into the picture, making it easy to take her down. Catch the young girl off guard or out smart her and she can easily be taken down. Personality Xiao Qiao is an extremely cheerful and happy girl; it'll take a whole lot to bring this teenager down! She is definitely a "glass is half full" type of person. Even in some of the worst situations, Xiao looks for the silver lining. She'll even go as far as to make up something good in order to reassure herself and her friends. In her mind, being miserable doesn't get anyone anywhere -- in fact, it just makes everything worse, so why waste time focusing on the bad? Outgoing is most certainly a word used to describe the warrior. She's never afraid to spark up a conversation, even with a total stranger (that is, unless they're really scary looking). In fact, Xiao loves to talk. If anyone were to dare her to stop speaking for a prolonged period are, chances are that she would lose that bet. Horrifically. She can't help it if she just wants to get to know everyone! Unless they're mean jerks, weirdos, creeps or big scary monsters, Xiao will make attempts to befriend most people she comes across. Loyalty is a big thing for Xiao. As a war officer, loyalty to her superiors and her kingdom is a big part of the job, so she doesn't take kindly to traitors or people who betray her trust. It goes without saying that, as a result, Xiao would, in most cases, never turn her back on her family and friends to the death. Of course, Xiao would expect the same from them, it is what friends do, after all. If anyone were to leave her high and dry when she needed them most, it would devastate the young girl. Unfortunately, as a result of her age and her desire to have fun all the time, Xiao is definitely an immature teenager. She's not beyond playing pranks on people, poking fun at them and wanting to be the center of attention. She'll procrastinate on less important duties to create crudely drawn pictures of play games outside with whoever is around at the moment. Xiao is also know for throwing (or forcing, if it'll work towards her advantage) little fits when things don't go her way. She'll stomp her feet around and whine until she grows bored. Xiao is also very headstrong; she's definitely someone who's set in her ways and her beliefs. It'll take a lot of time to change her mind once it's already made and it'll take even longer to stop her from doing something once her mind's set on it. Xiao is also very careless, especially when she's being stubborn. She'll often look over the most important details in order to reach her goal -- something that doesn't happen very often when you miss the larger picture. While she's not a sheltered child, Xiao is still a very naive girl. She'll easily believe lied fed to her, as long as they aren't completely ridiculous. It's not that she's stupid or anything, she wouldn't have a position in the military if she was, she's just very trusting of others and expects people to have the same values as her. Having grown up as a girl in a Confucian society, Xiao was raised to be a proper woman, which included running the household among other things. Unfortunately, those values always bored her. She always preferred climbing trees and having fun over those stuffy lessons with her sister. As a result, Xiao tends to have a rather relaxed, carefree and, sometimes, rude approach with other. Unless she's talking to a high ranking official or the Emperor himself, she won't bow for others (unless she's messed up and wants to make things better) and she certainly won't use honorific titles when talking. If there's one thing in this world that Xiao loves, it would be animals. She loves all sorts of animals: bears, hawks, elephants, tigers, but perhaps her absolute favorite animal would be the panda. In fact, love isn't a strong enough word to describe the feelings she has for pandas. Besides her family and friends, pandas are her favorite things in existence; they were always her favorite war animal to bring with her into battle and she has quite the collection of ceramic and toy pandas back in her home. Xiao'll never leave a panda accessory or toy behind if she spots it and, if for some reason she can't have it, she'll pine over it forever. Of course it goes without saying that if she meets someone who doesn't like pandas that she won't like them in return (or, at the very least, pretend not to like them). As stated, the only thing Xiao loves more than her pandas would be her friends and family -- specifically her older sister, Da Qiao, and her beloved husband, Zhou Yu. She'll stop at nothing to please them and make their lives easier, even if it means putting her own life on the line. If her friends or family are hurt in any way, shape or form, expect an angry Xiao Qiao in response! Unlike the rest of the world, Xiao doesn't see herself as a child. In her mind, she is a mature and responsible adult and she won't let anyone tell her otherwise! Her rationale is that, if she's old enough to be wed and old enough to be trusted on the battlefield as an officer, then she must be an adult! Needless to say, when Xiao's called a kid, she doesn't take too kindly to it. Besides disliking pandas, it's probably her biggest pet peeve. And honestly, she doesn't even remotely resemble a child! Have people ever seen a child this mature and adult looking?! Her favorite food in the whole entire world are peaches. She could eat them all day long and ever get sick. If anyone were to entice her with them, she could easily do what they ask. Granted, it wouldn't be anything serious like asking her to assassinate something. She doesn't like peaches that much. Appearance Xiao Qiao stands at 160cm -- that is, when she isn't slouching (standing up perfectly straight all the time is too much work, especially when she's sore after battle). Rarely will you ever see the teenaged girl sit perfectly still; she can be rather hyperactive, therefore she's often found fidgeting. She'll swing her legs when seated in a chair, strum her fingers on table tops and even throw her arms around when walking. Her light brown hair falls a little above her mid-back, however she rarely wears her hair down. While she's not a fan of intricate hairstyles (they're a lot of work and impractical for her lifestyle), she will take the time to throw her hair up into ponytails -- maybe a bun if she feels like it that morning. Due to the uneven length of her hair, Xiao is usually seen with thick pieces framing the sides of her face while her bangs fall just above her green eyes. Xiao wardrobe mostly consists of puffy, decorated shorts and an assortment of silk, linen and cotton tops. While she's not opposed to dressing up and wearing beautiful dresses, she prefers to save those for special occasions. Although she was raised to believe differently, her comfort is main priority and if that means passing up beautiful and intricate dress shoes for boots, then so be it! Relationships *Charles Xavier: Faux-neice *Dean Winchester: Acquaintance *Flonne: Friends *Hiccup Haddock: Best friends, roomates *Marisa Kirisame: Acquaintance *Miles Edgeworth: Acquaintance History Born shortly before the third century C.E. in Lujiang, China, Xiao Qiao was the second daughter to her father, Qiao Xuan, and her mother who had passed away during labor. Along with her older sister and best friend, Da Qiao (who was born a year earlier), Xiao spent most of her childhood split between learning how to be a proper lady and playing outdoors. Although she knew it was necessary to learn proper etiquette, it was something the young child dreaded. Acting proper was just so boring! Every now and then, she'd slink away from her duties to go play in the courtyard, often using this time to climb and hide in trees. Once in a blue moon, she'd drag Da along with her, though her sister would never appreciate it when their fun resulted in scoldings. As she grew up, word spread throughout the three kingdoms, Wu, Shu and Wei, that both her and her sister had grown into quite the beautiful young ladies. Together, they joined the ranks of the "great beauties of China", causing their father to become rather protective of them. Many would come to claim the hand of the two Qiaos but he would turn them away as quickly as they arrived. However, when the strategist from Wu, Zhou Yu, and the son of Sun Jian, Sun Ce, asked for their hand in marriage, their father offered the pair a chance to prove themselves. In order to do so, they fought their way to Xiao and Da. However, Xiao and her sister didn't want to give in that easily; at the end of the challenge, the two sisters fought their suitors themselves, informing them that, if they could defeat them, then they were worthy of being their husbands. And that's exactly what happened. Luckily enough, Xiao was quite fond of Zhou Yu, even though the two were polar opposites in nearly every aspect. His calm, tactical demeanor complimented her rambunctious behaviour. However, as the strategist for Wu, Zhou Yu was often busy with official duties or away on campaigns, leaving Xiao behind. After a few campaigns, she insisted on joining him. Although it took some persuading (read as: endless hours of begging and pleading), he finally gave in and Xiao was appointed as an officer in the military. She wanted nothing more than to help Wu become victorious against its rivals, the Kingdoms of Shu and Wei, and become to rulers of China. Wu went through several changes as the war waged. Their first leader, Sun Jian had passed away and his eldest son and the husband of Xiao's sister, Sun Ce, had taken control. An alliance was formed between the three kingdoms in order to remove the threat of Yuan Shu, one of the warlords scattered throughout the land. Afterwards, the alliance quickly came to an end as Wu turned on Wei and attacked Xu Chang, where Sun Ce died and his younger brother, Sun Quan took command. Soon, Wu formed a loose alliance with Shu as an attempt to even the greatly imbalanced playing field against Wei at the battle of Chi Bi. Wei's army was nearly double their forces and, in order for their strategy to work, Xiao and the rest of the forces relied heavily of Shu's strategist, Zhuge Liang. This was a battle that Xiao wanted to win more than anything -- not only because of what was at stake but because Cao Cao, Wei's leader, made it known that he was more than interested in both her and her sister. She wanted nothing to do with that gross old man, so she was using this battle to tell him to leave her alone! During the midst of battle, just before Zhuge Liang's strategy came into effect, Xiao was grabbed by black tendrils and was pulled into Pandora. Pandora History